Plate 54: Frogs, Lizards, and Salamanders(?) in a Landscape, c. 1575/1580

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series Title

Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra)

Medium

watercolor and gouache, with oval border in gold, on vellum

Dimensions

page size (approximate): 14.3 x 18.4 cm (5 5/8 x 7 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Lessing J. Rosenwald

Accession Number

1987.20.6.55

Artists / Makers

Joris Hoefnagel (artist) Flemish, 1542 - 1600

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

upper center in red ink: NIHILI COAXATIO IN ACTIONE CO[N]SISTIT VIRTVS. (“Croaking over nothing (much ado about nothing). Virtue consists of action.”) (trans. Vignau-Wilberg 1994, 78; Bass 2019, 211)); center right in black ink: LIV.; animal in upper left of image numbered .1., in red ink; other animals in image numbered .3., .4., .5., and .6., in (gold?); lower center in black ink: Cupiens aequare bibendo / Rana bonem, rupta numq[uam] bibit amplius alvo. (“A frog, desiring to match an ox in a drinking contest, so utterly burst his own belly that he never drank again.” Palingenius Stellatus, _Zodiacus_, 213 (Virgo, lines 579-80) (trans. Bass 2019, 211)
Facing page: upper center in brown ink: Qui facit magna et Inco[m]prehensibilia , et / mirabilia, quorum non est numerus.Job:9. (“Who does great and incomprehensible things and wonders without number.” Job 9:10) (Latin Vulgate Bible); lower center in brown ink: Ecce venenosus, serpendo sibilat Anguis. / Garrula limosis Rana coaxat aquis.